Presentation of Philippeville

The municipality of Philippeville (8,482 inhabitants on 1 January 2007;
15,671 ha) is located 30 km south of Charleroi. The municipality of Philippeville is made since 1976
of the former municipalities of Philippeville, Fagnolle, Franchimont
(not related with the Marquisate and castle of Franchimont, located in Theux), Jamagne, Jamiolle, Merlemont, Neuville, Omezée, Roly,
Romedenne, Samart, Sart-en-Fagne, Sautour, Surice, Villers-en-Fagne,
Villers-le-Gambon and Vodecée.

Philippeville is located in the region of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse
("Between [the rivers] Sambre and Meuse"). In the XVIth century, the
Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse was the weak link in the defense system of the
Spanish Low Countries against a French invasion. The region was divided
into several domains shared by the Counts of Hainaut, the Count of
Namur and the Prince-Bishop of Liège, little inhabited and still
covered with woods. In 1546, Charles V and his sister, Maria of
Hungary, the Governor of the Low Countries, ordered the building of the
fortress of Mariembourg, near Frasnes.
In 1554, King of France Henri II
resumed the wars unsuccessfully fought again Charles V by his father
François I and sent three armies to invade, or at least to weaken the
defenses, of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse. The two armies heading to Namur,
powered with a strong artillery, destroyed all the medieval fortresses;
the first army suppressed the castle of Orchimont and occupied the left
bank of the Meuse while the second one scoured the region of Chimay and
eventually seized the fortress of Mariembourg. Aged 54 and sick,
Charles V decided to stay north of Namur and to protect the town, while
the French armies carried on their destruction, suppressing the old
castle of Montaigle and plundering the towns of Florennes, Fosses,
Binche and Le Rœulx.
The mercenary Van Rossem was commissioned to lead the Spanish army to
the Meuse and to expel the French from Givet. He partially succeeded
but got a letal disease and had to come back to Antwerp, where he died.
He was succeeded by a 23 year-old commander, William of Orange, aka the
Silent (the very same William would later take the arms against
Charles V's son, Filip II, and obtain the independence of the
Netherlands). Charles V ordered the destruction of the fortress of
Fagnolle, located close to Mariembourg, to prevent the French to use
it, and commissioned William of Orange to build a brand new fortified
town.
After a few visits, William of Orange decided to build the new fortress
on the site of the village of Echerennes, a height rich in fresh water.
At that time, spoiled water was a main cause of epidemics and fresh
water was required to maintain big concentrations of soldiers in good
health. It took only four months to built the new town designed by the
architect Van Noen. The town was an irregular pentagon with bastions,
surrounded by dry ditches and protected by two gates watching France,
westwards, and the valley of Meuse, eastwards. During the building,
Henri II's troops destroyed all the neighbouring villages, whose
inhabitants moved to the new town and contributed to its building. The
Spanish garrison settled the fortress on 17 January 1556. Charles V
named the town Philippeville after his son Philip, who would succeed
him the next year as Philip II. At the same time, the French built
their own new fortress in Rocroi.

The first Governor of Philippeville was Lazar of Schwendi (1522-1583),
a Swabian who studied at the universities of Basle and Strasbourg and
served Charles V as a diplomat and a colonel. Appointed Governor of
Philippeville in 1556, Schwendi entered the town with a regiment of
2,500 German lansquenets. The regiment took part to the battles of
Saint-Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). Schwendi then "retired" to
Antwerp, where he supported the local nobles in their struggle against
Cardinal Granvelle. Sent by the Emperor to Hungary, he seized from the
Turks the fortress of Tokay on 11 February 1565, bringing back 4,000
barrels of local wine. This historical event is the base of a famous
Alsatian legend saying that Schwendi brought back to his domain of
Kientzheim the famous Tokay grapevine. Unfortunately, the Hungarian
Tokay wine was elaborated more than one century later. The Alsatian
Tokay has been a matter of long dispute with the Hungarians, who
claimed that it has nothing to do with the genuine Tokay and should not
be called Tokay. It was eventually decided last year that the Alsatian
Tokay would be called Pinot Gris. Schwendi's recumbent statue is still
kept in the church of Kientzheim.

In 1659, peace was settled between France and Spain by the treaty of
Pyrénées and Philippeville, like other border towns, was allocated to
France. The engineer Vauban revamped the fortress after a starry design
and increased its defenses. On 20 November 1815, the second Treaty of
Paris transferred Philippeville to the reestablished Kingdom of the
Netherlands. Partially decommissioned in 1820, the fortifications were
totally suppressed in 1853. The arrangement of the streets of the town
and the toponymy are the only aboveground remains of the big fortress
of Philippeville.

Municipal flag of Philippeville

The flag of Philippeville is blue with a yellow Cross of Burgundy
cantonned with four white letters "P" crowned.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, this flag was proposed by the
Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community as Bleu chargé d'une croix de Bourgogne, jaune cantonnée de quatre lettres P couronnées blanches.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.

The aforementioned Philippeville website gives details on the arms of
Philippeville, quoting Servais as the source.
The Flanders Armorial by Borel d'Hauterive ascribes to Philippeville
"Azure a letter "P" argent crowned of the same". Dumont's heraldic map
(1774) ascribes to Philippeville a shield azure with a big "V" or
encompassing a smaller "P" of the same, crowned. The cachet de la
Prévosté (seal of the Provostship) of Philippeville used in the XVIIIth century shows an oval shield, with the arms of France, crowned and surrounded by the collars of the orders.
The arms of Philippeville were granted by a (Dutch) Royal Decree (date
not given) as Un écu d'azur chargé d'une croix de Bourgogne cantonnée de quatre lettres P d'argent couronnées de même, l'écu sommé d'une couronne d'or
("A shield azure charged with a Cross of Burgundy cantonned with four
letters P argent crowned of the same. The shield surmonted with a crown
or").
The Cross of Burgundy recalls the remote Burgundian origin of Philip II
via Mary of Burgundy, mother of Philip I of Castilie, himself the
father of Charles V. Even after the end of the "Burgundian" rule on
Belgium the Cross of Burgundy has remained a popular charge, for
instance in brotherhood and guilds' banners.